Car Safety Standards Overlook Women's Needs

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For over half a century, car safety standards have been designed primarily with men in mind, leaving women's lives in the rearview. The author details how car companies and the government have long ignored women's safety, with the first person killed in a car crash being a woman and women being 73% more likely to be severely injured and 17% more likely to die in a crash compared to men. Despite calls since the 1980s for female crash test dummies, NHTSA didn't start using them until the early 2000s, and the current female dummy is just a smaller version of the male one, not representative of women's anatomy. A new advanced female dummy called Thor-5F has been developed but is still waiting to be implemented in official crash tests, while the government and car companies resist updates to safety standards.

Why it matters

This issue highlights the long-standing gender bias in automotive design and safety testing, which has had deadly consequences for women. Addressing this oversight could save thousands of women's lives each year and ensure that cars are built to protect all drivers and passengers, not just the average male body.

The details

The author's own experience of being more injured than the men in a car accident led her to research the history of car safety standards. She found that from the early 1900s when cars were first becoming popular, they were designed by men for men, with little safety testing done. Even as the dangers of driving became well known in the 1950s, car companies resisted adding safety features like seatbelts. When the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) was formed in 1970, its crash test dummies were based on the average male body, ignoring women. While female crash test dummies have been called for since the 1980s, NHTSA didn't start using them officially until the early 2000s, and the current female dummy is just a smaller version of the male one, not representative of women's anatomy.

• In the 1950s, the dangers of driving became well known, but car companies resisted adding safety features.
• In 1970, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) was formed to police the safety of automobiles.
• In the 1980s, researchers began calling for female crash test dummies.
• In the early 2000s, NHTSA started officially using a female crash test dummy, over a decade after it was first recommended.
• In 2014, a company called Humanetics started developing a new advanced female crash test dummy called Thor-5F.

What they’re saying

What’s next

A bipartisan group of senators has introduced the She DRIVES Act, which would require NHTSA to update its testing devices to include female and male crash test dummies. However, car companies are lobbying to dilute the act and prevent the advanced Thor-5F dummy from being required.